Consumer displays store this ultra-high-definition picture as a 16:9 grid of 3840×2160 square pixels. The grid holds 8,294,400 pixels, exactly four times the 1080 Progressive (1080p) frame, because each axis is doubled. That total is a count of pixels, not Pixels Per Inch (PPI).
The number 2160 is the count of vertical lines. The letter p means every line is drawn in each frame, instead of alternate lines on successive passes.
Stored Grid and Scan
Standard Definition (SD) covers the 480-line and 576-line rows in the family below. High Definition Television (HDTV) covers the 720-line and 1080-line rows. The 480-line rows follow the National Television System Committee (NTSC) line count, and the 576-line rows follow the Phase Alternating Line (PAL) line count.
Quad High Definition (QHD) is the 2560×1440 picture, four times 720 Progressive (720p), and it is smaller than this grid. Full High Definition (FHD) is another name for the 1920×1080 progressive picture.
- Vertical lines. The figure in the name is the height. This grid is 2160 lines tall and 3840 pixels wide, which is a 16:9 frame.
- Progressive draw. Nothing in the name is an interlaced field. Each output frame contains the full vertical count.
- Square pixels. The horizontal and vertical spacing match, so the stored grid is not stretched to fill the 16:9 frame.
| Picture | Stored Grid | Scan |
| 480 Interlaced (480i) | 720×480 | Alternate lines on each pass |
| 480 Progressive (480p) | 720×480 | Every line each frame |
| 576 Interlaced (576i) | 720×576 | Alternate lines on each pass |
| 576 Progressive (576p) | 720×576 | Every line each frame |
| 720p | 1280×720 | Every line each frame |
| 1080 Interlaced (1080i) | 1920×1080 | Alternate lines on each pass |
| 1080p, also called FHD | 1920×1080 | Every line each frame |
| 1440 Progressive (1440p), also called QHD | 2560×1440 | Every line each frame |
| 2160p | 3840×2160 | Every line each frame |
| 4320 Progressive (4320p) | 7680×4320 | Every line each frame |
Consumer Labels and Digital Cinema
Marketing names for this picture are Ultra High Definition (UHD) and Ultra High Definition (4K). Consumer 4K is the 3840×2160 television grid.
Digital cinema 4K is 4096×2160. That film container is 256 pixels wider than this grid and is not the same frame. The next size in the family, 4320p, doubles each axis again to 7680×4320, which is four times the pixel count here.
Frame Rate and Color
Common rates are 24, 25, 30, 50, and 60 Frames Per Second (FPS). Several of those rates are specified in standards from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). A higher rate repeats the whole frame more often. It does not add pixels. The picture is often carried to the display through High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI).
Color for this mode is often specified by Recommendation BT.2020. Those primaries are wider than Recommendation BT.709, the older color specification used for High Definition (HD) at the 1080-line grid. The pixel grid also does not set dynamic range: High Dynamic Range (HDR) and video Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) are separate choices.